European parliament working paper
Tandefelt, Marika 1996. På vinst och förlust. Research Report 35. Helsinki: Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration
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- General references
- Basque
- The use of the language in various fields
- Conclusion
- Bibliography and data sources
Tandefelt, Marika 1996. På vinst och förlust. Research Report 35. Helsinki: Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.FranceIntroductionIn France reference is usually made to ‘langues régionales’ in official documents, by the press and public in general; it is an inexact and ambiguous term, though it is also used, instead of the derogatory word ‘patois’, by speakers and promoters of these languages. No general legal texts or explicit references in constitutional texts acknowledge or protect them: Republican traditions have favoured linguistic assimilation. There is a single legal text: the Deixonne law (No. 51-46, Jan. 11, 1951). It authorises the teaching of Breton, Basque, Catalan and Occitan in schools, and is referred to in all memoranda and circulars issued since. Thus, in October 1966, a memorandum was issued, and in 1975 a teacher-training plan was devised; the first experimental provision arose from the Savary memorandum in 1982, and the 1995 Bayrou memorandum set up permanent provisions, though still as optional or voluntary subjects, and without teacher training; in March 2001, Jack Lang, the Minister of Education, announced an extension of the bilingual teaching system and teacher training measures. The Ministry recently set up a Conseil Académique des Langues Régionales184. Regional languages are mentioned in article 21 of Law 94-665, of August 4th 1994 (‘the dispositions of this law are applied without prejudice to legislation and regulations relative to the regional languages of France and are not opposed to their usage’). It derives from the Constitutional law of June 25 1992, which introduced the following amendment in Article 2 of the Constitution: ‘The language of the Republic is French’, a point not specifically stated before. Since 1994, no text has been adopted for the protection of minority languages. Professor Carcassonne’s185 1998 Report, and the Constitutional Council ruling which followed steps by President Chirac to block the ratification by France of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, both interpreted the 1994 Act in a restrictive manner. The Council considered that ratification would be unconstitutional unless article 2 is modified. The Carcassonne Report does not oppose the ratification, but it does conclude that article 2 of the Constitution is being used, intentionally or otherwise, against regional languages. The 2001 bill on the special status of Corsican and the parliamentary debate under way will hopefully make it possible to explicitly acknowledge this language, and to introduce a complete and coherent system for teaching it. But it is not at present foreseen that these dispositions will be extended to protect other languages. Given the lack of legal status, the subsections on ‘The courts’ and ‘Public authorities and services’ have been omitted from each report. It has not proved possible to prepare a report on Créole, spoken in the overseas departments. General referencesBouvier, Jean-Claude, sld: Rapport sur la recherche en cultures et langues régionales, MEN, 1984. FLAREP, Fédération pour les langues régionales dans l’enseignement public: http://www.flarep.com. Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Délégation générale à la langue française. Rapport au Parlement 2000 sur l'application de la loi du 4 août 1994 relative à l'emploi de la langue française: http://kapeskreol.online.fr/rapport2000.htm. Site d'information du CAPES de Créole:http://kapeskreol.online.fr/index.htm. BasqueIntroductionBasque, or Euskara, belongs to a language family of its own. It is spoken in France in the western part of the Pyrénées Atlantiques department (Pays Basque Nord or Iparralde) and in the northern Spanish regions of Navarre and the Basque Country (Euskadi), where it is official alongside Spanish. It has six main dialects: those of Zuberoa (or Soule), French Navarre, Lapurdi (or Labourd), Spanish Navarre, Gipuzkoa and Biscay186. The language was standardised quite recently, thanks to Euskaltzaindia, (Basque Language Academy, created in 1918, its membership covering the whole Basque-speaking area) which decided in 1968 to unify the spelling, using chiefly Gipuzkoa and Lapurdi Basque. Euskara Batua (standard Basque) has benefited cultural production, educational material and discussion, as well as the media. For writers in the French Basque country, it also increases opportunities. A Council for the Development of the Basque Country, consisting of politicians, local authorities and State services, aims to generalise teaching in Basque; it faces the lack of resources for meeting parents’ demands, as well as difficulties managing bilingual education (budget and posts, of which 20 were recently vacant). The use of the language in various fieldsEducation: Basque has been spearheaded by the ikastolak, private nursery schools founded by private associations. They use immersion methods. In pre-school education and State primary schools, parents can now choose, as happens with other minority languages: lessons for beginners, several hours a week; and bilingual streams. 27% of the 25,000 primary pupils now have some contact with Basque. Unlike other languages, most of these pupils are in bilingual or immersion streams (16%). Public education initiatives, called for by a student-parents’ association (Ikas-bi, ‘to learn two’), are responses to the impressive increase in Basque association schools and religious schools with bilingual classes. But only 5% of pupils study Basque as a 2nd or 3rd language at secondary level. Finally, an inter-university Basque Studies Department at Bayonne is run by Bordeaux and Pau universities. Since 1995, a Basque CAPES course trains and recruits a limited number of secondary school teachers. Mass media: Spanish Basque Country media reach part of the French Basque Country: Radio Euskadi, Euskal Telebista TV and the daily paper Egunkaria. In France, association-run radio stations broadcast in Basque: Gure Irratia (‘Our Radio’, in Lapurdi), Xiberoko Botza (‘The voice of Zuberoa’), Irulegoko Irratia (in French Navarre) and half Lapurdi Irratia’s broadcasts. Radio France Pays Basque also broadcasts 1h a day in Basque. Several periodicals are in Basque, as is a weekly article in the local edition of the regional daily Sud-Ouest. Family and social use: Family transmission is recovering slowly, while personal and social contacts and education are producing new speakers. The use of Euskara is growing, at work and in family and social contexts. A confederation of associations, Euskal Konfederazioa, works for the promotion of Basque. In a 1991 survey, 56% of French Basque country residents spoke Basque. In a 1996 survey, commissioned by the Euskadi and Navarre governments and the Basque Cultural Institute (founded 1990) in France, under 1% of adults (mostly elderly) could not speak French ‘well’, 26% were bilingual and 9% understood Basque (in all, about 76,000 people). 13% spoke it in the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz area, 45% in Lapurdi and 76% in French Navarre and Zuberoa. 40-43% of people over 50 spoke fluent Basque, as did only 24% of 15-24 year-olds. ConclusionIn the French Basque Country an age-old language shift is now being reversed. The effects of education and the influence of the Basque regions of Spain as regards the media, language policy and language prestige have yet to be seen. The public presence of Basque is limited but much local council has recently put up bilingual signposting. Bibliography and data sources:Garmendia, Vincent: ‘Domaine basque’, Rapport... (Bouvier), MEN, 1984, pp. 116-123 Inform’APLEC, Associació per a l’ensenyament del català, nov. 1999: ‘Ressenya del 13è col·loqui de la FLAREP’, ‘Llengua i ensenyament al País Basc’, pp. 18-48 Directory: RegData -> etudes -> document travail document travail -> Working paper a single market in financial services RegData -> European commission brussels, XXX RegData -> The european commission RegData -> Provisional agreement resulting from interinstitutional negotiations Download 1.21 Mb. Share with your friends:
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